Trump’s history-making hush-money trial begins ...(Mod Warning)

8 min ago
Davidson expressed frustration over funding delay to Cohen, who said "I'll just do it myself"


Davidson testified that he came to believe that Cohen didn't have the authority to spend the money.

"I think you can tell by these emails I was sending him there was a great level of frustration by me and my client," Davidson said.
"I let him know that the level of dissatisfaction was quite high. He stated, '******n it. I’ll just do it myself,'" Davidson testified.




10 min ago
"I don't believe a word really that you say," Davidson told Cohen after delay of Daniels' payment
Keith Davidson listed a series of excuses Michael Cohen gave him after he followed up about the Stormy Daniels' payment, including that the computer systems are "all f**ked up," placing blame on the Secret Service, among others.

"The Secret Service is in here, they’ve got so many ******n firewalls," Davidson recalled Cohen saying.

Conversations with Cohen were "conciliatory" but full of contradictions that made Davidson feel like Cohen didn't plan to fund the deal, Davidson said on the stand.

After days of excuses with no money wire, Davidson said he told Cohen, "I don't believe a word really that you say."

Cohen responded, "******nit what do you expect me to do, my guy is in five different states today."

https://www.cnn.com/

 

min ago
Judge and prosecutors are in the courtroom. No sign yet of Trump


Judge Juan Merchan is on the bench and the prosecutors are back in the courtroom.

However, Trump is not here yet.

The judge had warned Blanche about not being late when they returned from lunch.
https://www.cnn.com/

 

2 min ago
Trump enters courtroom with a phone in his right hand


Trump has entered with his phone in his right hand.

Eric Trump and Susie Wiles have returned.

Judge Merchan is speaking off-mic to prosecutors.

Davidson, who is testifying, has also entered the courtroom.

The jury has just filed back as well.

Natalie Harp, the former One America News anchor-turned-Trump aide who often prints out articles for him, is also in the courtroom. She is in the second row behind political aides.

https://www.cnn.com/

 

2 min ago
Trump is sitting alone at the defense table while lawyers sidebar


Donald Trump is sitting alone at the defendant's table while the lawyers are at the bench.

Defense attorney Susan Necheles is two seats over from him, but she isn't talking to him during the bench conference.

1 min ago
Davidson is back testifying and jury is shown texts between him and Howard about the Daniels' deal
Davidson is back on the stand.

The jury is now being shown another string of text messages between Davidson and Dylan Howard after the deal to pay Stormy Daniels seemed to crumble.

Davidson texted, "I can’t believe Cohen let this go. It’s going to be a sh*t show."
Howard replied, "I bet. All because Trump is tight."
Davidson explained to the jury when Howard said Trump is tight he meant that Trump "was frugal."

Davidson said he believed "they had this deal sort of on a silver platter and it was just there for the taking."

He said the only reason the deal didn't close was "because they didn’t want to spend the money."

https://www.cnn.com/

 

2 min ago
What Keith Davidson has said so far this afternoon
From CNN's Eric Levenson

Keith Davidson, the attorney who represented both Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels, testified for about an hour after the lunch break about his efforts to negotiate settlement deals on behalf of his clients.

Continuing his earlier testimony, he said American Media Inc. (AMI), which publishes the National Enquirer, agreed to pay $150,000 to McDougal for her story about an alleged affair with Trump. Davidson received 45% of that payment.

He said AMI decided not to actually run the story for two reasons: because they wanted to build McDougal into a “brand” and because there was an “unspoken understanding” that the story would hurt Trump.

Separately, Davidson and Howard messaged regarding the adult film actress Stormy Daniels’ story about having an affair with Trump in 2006. Though the allegation was old, her story took on new importance after the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump made vulgar comments about his treatment of women.

“Yeah but her talking and taking (redacted) is the final nail in the coffin,” Howard messaged to Davidson.

Still, AMI decided not to go through with paying for Daniels’ story. Instead, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen stepped in and agreed to pay $130,000 to Daniels, her former manager and Davidson as part of a settlement for her silence, Davidson testified.

"In essence, Michael Cohen stepped into AMI’s shoes," he said.
The settlement said that the payment would be made by October 14, 2016, but Cohen did not send the money, Davidson testified. Cohen gave him a series of excuses, but Davidson said he did not believe them and threatened to cancel the settlement.

"I let him know that the level of dissatisfaction was quite high. He stated, 'G--damn it. I’ll just do it myself,'" Davidson testified.

On October 17, Davidson wrote in an email to Cohen: “Please be advised that my client deems her Settlement agreement cancelled and void ab initio.” He also said he no longer represented Daniels.

https://www.cnn.com/

 

3 min ago
Davidson says he had assumption of how deal would be funded


Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass just asked Keith Davidson: "Did you have an understanding of how this deal was going to be funded?"

Davidson says he had an assumption.


https://www.cnn.com/


5 min ago
Judge sustains Trump lawyer's objection to questioning of Davidson's grand jury testimony
Donald Trump's lawyers objected to a line of questioning related to Keith Davidson's grand jury testimony.

The judge sustained the objection.

Trump is shaking his head side to side in court.

 

hmmm, when someone has dirt on DT, he buys them off. when someone had dirt on the Clinton's they ended up under the dirt.

 

9m ago / 4:05 PM EDT
Davidson said 'it would be a tornado' if Daniels story got out


Lisa Rubin and Rebecca Shabad
More text messages between Keith Davidson and Dylan Howard presented during the trial this afternoon reflected Davidson's belief, he said, that if Stormy Daniels' story got out, "it would be a tornado."

The texts also corroborated Davidson's testimony that he walked away not only from Michael Cohen but also from representing Gina Rodriguez, Daniels' manager, and Daniels herself. Davidson said he expected "there would be tremendous media activity around this story."

 

7 min ago
Davidson says he interpreted text from Howard as saying Trump wasn't as wealthy as he stated


We're back to looking at text messages between Davidson and Howard.

These texts pick up after Howard said Trump was tight.

Howard texted Davidson, "I reckon that Trump impersonator I hired has more cash."

Davidson testified he interpreted that text to mean "that Trump wasn't as wealthy as he stated."



6 min ago
Judge continues to sustain objections to questions from Steinglass
Trump was looking at a note from Todd Blanche just now and the attorney was smiling. Trump was not and handed it back to him.

Trump leaned back to look toward prosecutor Joshua Steinglass as the judge continued sustaining objections to the prosecutor's questions.

Davidson said, "It was my understanding that Mr. Trump was the beneficiary of the contract."

Davidson added that typically in his experience the beneficiary funds the deal.

Judge Juan Merchan sustained a defense objection to that speculation and struck that part of Davidson's answer though the jury heard it in open court.


https://www.cnn.com/

 

Cohen got the 130,000 to Stormy 13 days before the 2016 election.

2 min ago
Jury shown email from Davidson to Cohen with wiring instructions


The jury is now seeing an email from October 26, 2016, from Keith Davidson to Michael Cohen with wiring instructions.

"This is the fourth or fifth time I sent my wiring instructions to Michael Cohen," Davidson testifies.

https://www.cnn.com/

 

2 min ago
Jury excused for the day


The jury is being excused for the day.

 

Oct.7 2016
"Access Hollywood Tape" published by WAPO.

Oct.26,2016
Stormy receives $130,000 signs NDA requiring her to be silent about sexcapade with Trump.

Nov. 8, 2016 Election Day.

 

That C-Span thingy today played for the jurors.
Trump was spewing his "I don't know either one of them" bullshit.
The lies just roll off his tongue like unfiltered- molasses.

'How Trump Prosecutors Used C-SPAN to Inform Jurors of Sex Assault Claims'
They played clips of Donald J. Trump attacking women who had accused him of assault, letting them skirt a judge’s order barring direct testimony about the cases.'


Donald J. Trump attacked two women who had accused him of sexual assault at a rally in Greensboro, N.C., while campaigning in 2016.Credit...Stephen Crowley/The New York Times





"Mr. Browning spent about 20 minutes on the stand, and prosecutors began with a straightforward question: What is C-SPAN? Then they played a series of key clips from the network, starting with a Trump campaign rally in October 2016 at which the candidate attacked two women who had accused him of sexual assault.'

https://web.archive.org/web/2024043...4/30/nyregion/trump-trial-cspan-evidence.html

 

C-Span Trump @ 19:58
" I have no idea who these woman are"

ROTFLMAO

 

1 murder can be an assault and murder, just depends

 

For me this video of 2016 Campaign Trump is gold for the prosecution and especially the jury.
It shows how concerned Trump was of what McDougal & Stormy could do to him come Nov 8th.
But the gem is seeing him blatantly lie and lie so easily, a pathological liar then and now.

@ 19:58

 

So Cohen being Trump's rabid pit bull fixer is somehow new news?
That's why Trump kept him for over a decade.

1. • Analysis
     Posted at 17:1417:14
     An unflattering introduction to star witness Michael Cohen
     
     
     Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
     Keith Davidson’s testimony gave jurors more insight into Michael Cohen’s personality.
     
     He was referred to as a jerk and someone who people didn’t particularly want to deal with.
     
     Might these unflattering descriptions undermine the Manhattan District Attorney’s star witness? Well prosecutors typically want to bring out the bad stuff before the other side can.
     
     Jurors also are getting a look at how far Michael Cohen was willing to go for Donald Trump at the time, a loyal lieutenant if you will, years before he ultimately cooperated with investigators.
     
     And don’t discount the power of those brief video clips where Trump called women making claims against him liars and where he called Michael Cohen a very talented lawyer and a great friend.
     
     Prosecutors are hoping those discredit Trump.
     
     https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-us-canada-68924304?src_origin=BBCS_BBC

 

Analysis
Posted at 16:5116:51

Reporting from court

Davidson's testimony provides an important piece of the puzzle for the Manhattan DA's case.

Prosecutors are trying to portray this case as truly about election fraud, alleging Mr Trump was conspiring to influence the outcome of the 2016 election by keeping negative stories from the public.

They have argued Mr Trump was desperate to bury Ms Daniel’s story in the aftermath of the Access Hollywood tape, because an allegation of a sexual encounter with an adult film star could have further doomed his presidential bid.

Today, Davidson gave them an important piece of evidence - or at least, his texts did.

He had texted Dylan Howard that Daniels' story would put the "final nail in the coffin" for the campaign.

Howard also viewed Trump as ruined. It shows that they knew how bad Daniels' story could be for the campaign.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-us-canada-68924304?src_origin=BBCS_BBC

 

Posted at 16:4216:42
Trump appears frustrated as trial closes for the day


EPACopyright: EPA
Court closed for the day, and the former president seemed angry and frustrated when he spoke to the press outside.

"This is a trial that is nonsense," he said.

He claimed that Justice Merchan was "totally conflicted" and "rushing this case" - and he also took shots at the judges involved in cases he recently lost. .

The presumptive Republican nominee also expressed his outrage that he wasn't able to be out on the campaign trail.

"It’s a joke. I’m sitting here and that’s what they want," he said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-us-canada-68924304?src_origin=BBCS_BBC

 

Which has never been proven.

 

true, the witnesses had an interesting habit of dying before they could be questioned.

 

Well, the judge is going to let trump attend his son’s graduation, so Barron can thank the judge since his daddy never bothered to attend any of his other children’s graduations.
I bet he feels special.

 

Well, that sucks, unless it is standard US form for a criminal defendant on bail to be allowed to do that.

The US needs to stop treating him**** as deserving different treatment from the rest of us

 

I sometimes wish that our legal system was as corrupt as maga claims.
If it was, trump would already be in jail, along with most of his grifter family and lowlife accomplices.
Instead, it is bending over backward to ensure that trump gets fair trials for all his crimes, partly because he’s rich and can afford to delay and obstruct everything in hopes of winning the election and partly because we have never had a potus commit so many crimes and made so many attempts to overturn an election, so they are proceeding carefully since it is such a unique historical moment.
The main corruption of our legal system is that the rich and powerful get to fiddle it while regular folk are unable to dodge justice, although this is common in most democratic societies.

 

True, but the basic (and ultimately it will be fatal unless fixed) flaw is in the Constitution which deliberately spawns and institutionalises political/judicial corruption.